WASHINGTON/SANAA - US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Sunday that the airstrikes on Houthis will not stop until the group ends its attacks on US ships and drones.
"The minute the Houthis say 'we'll stop shooting at your ships, we'll stop shooting at your drones,' this campaign will end, but until then, it will be unrelenting," he said on Fox News.
The US strikes on Houthis in Yemen are about "freedom of navigation" and "restoring deterrence," he said.
US President Donald Trump on Saturday announced that he had ordered the US military to launch decisive and powerful military action against the Houthis in Yemen.
Earlier on Sunday, Trump's national security advisor Mike Waltz told ABC News that the US strikes targeted and "took out" multiple Houthis leaders.
Comparing the airstrikes with those launched by the Biden administration, Waltz said: "The difference here is, one, going after the Houthi leadership, and two, holding Iran responsible."
The Trump administration has designated Houthis a foreign terrorist organization, he added, accusing Iran of helping the Houthis attack US warships and global commerce.
In response, Iran's Chief Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps Hossein Salami said on Sunday the country plays no role in designing the policies of the Yemen-based Houthis, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported.
Salami said the US president once again attributed the operations carried out by the Houthis to Iran, noting that Iran had always emphasized that the Yemenis are independent and free people with their own independent national policy.
Also on Sunday, Yemen's Houthi group said it launched a retaliatory attack against the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier in the Red Sea in response to dozens of US airstrikes on its positions.
"The American enemy launched a blatant aggression against our country with more than 47 air raids targeting Sanaa and seven other governorates," Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Sarea said in a televised statement aired by Houthi-run al-Masirah TV.
"In response to the aggression, we carried out a military operation, targeting USS Harry S. Truman and its escorts with a drone and 18 ballistic and cruise missiles," Sarea stated.
US warplanes launched extensive airstrikes across northern Yemen on Saturday night, targeting multiple Houthi-controlled locations. According to Houthi estimates on Sunday, the bombardment resulted in at least 31 deaths and 101 injuries.
